


For Hearts Long Lost and Full of Fright

by GalahadWilder



Category: DC Comics, Green Lantern - Fandom, Green Lantern Corps - Fandom, Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-01-01 05:27:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18329537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalahadWilder/pseuds/GalahadWilder
Summary: Hal and Carol’s relationship is on the rocks again—when is it not? But when Jessica Cruz shows up at Ferris Air in desperate search of her missing partner, Hal and Carol realize that they may be the only people on Earth capable of finding him.





	1. Highball

It’s peaceful up here, he thinks. This high. Just him, alone in the cockpit, the rumble of the engine and the vast blue sky. If he could, he’d ride this wave forever.

”Dammit, Highball, _eject_!”

Well, there is the fact that when he looks up he sees ground. That’s not supposed to happen.

” _Hal!_ Bail the _fuck_ out!”

”I’ve _got_ this, Carol,” he snaps, yanking on the stick, trying to correct the roll. The plane yaws the wrong way. “Crap!”

”I feel like ‘got this’ means something different in Hal,” Tom interjects.

”Yeah, no _shit_ ,” Carol says. “Eject, dammit!”

”I am _busy_...” Hal yells through gritted teeth, “...saving...” He yanks the stick the other way. The plane spins wildly. “...your _plane_!”

”I’d rather not lose a _pilot_!” Carol yells. “Where’s your damn ring?”

”Uh, Ms. Ferris?” Tom says. Hal knows he’s probably holding it up to her. She’s right, he’s been wearing it too much lately, but now was probably a stupid time to start listening to her. Too late now.

“Shit.” Carol sighs over the intercom. “Okay, hold onto your ass.”

The air outside the cockpit turns bright pink.

* * *

In the control room, Carol massages her temples. "Okay," she says. "Okay okay okay."

Tom is still holding onto Hal's ring—what the hell was that idiot flyboy thinking, leaving it on the ground?—but everything is under control now. She's caught the plane in a crystal construct, and it's going to the ground at a more reasonable pace. She leaves the plane upside-down though. Let the jackass sweat for a bit.

She focuses on splitting her attention the way Aga'po taught her, making sure not to drop her pilot. "Ring," she says, holding up her hand. "Scan the plane for any structural or mechanical abnormalities."

[Scan complete,] the ring responds. [Hydraulics failed.]

She sighs. "Mr. Kalmaku."

Tom immediately snaps to attention. "Yes, Ms. Ferris?"

"Who did the work on the plane's hydraulics?"

Tom swallows. "Jackson, ma'am."

"Right." She clenches her fist. "Jackson's on probation, as of now." She leans forward, pressing the intercom button. “Captain Pearlman.”

Jillian’s voice comes clean over the intercom; Carol threaded Kryptonian data tech throughout the facility months ago to make sure the emergency crews were never out of contact, which came with a side benefit of crystal clear audio. “What’s up, C?”

”I need a favor,” Carol says. “Can you head down to the hangar and slap Hal for me?”

Jillian giggles. “With pleasure,” she says, and then the intercom cuts off.

Carol collapsed back into her chair. “I think,” she says, “that’s enough excitement for today.”

* * *

”The hydraulics _snapped_ , Hal,” she says, projecting the ring scan in violet-pink directly in front of his face. “Landing that plane wasn’t possible, even for you.”

”It worked out, didn’t it?” Hal says, unzipping his flight suit. He has a fresh red mark on his face from where Jillian slapped him.

”Only because one of us thought to wear their goddamn ring today,” she says. “You’re lucky I even had it on me.” She steps toward him, jabs him in the chest. “You’re not Laminsky, dammit! I put you in the prototypes because I know that no matter what goes wrong, you have an out!”

”I’m _fine_ , Carol!” he snaps. He’s not looking at her.

She crosses her arms. “Uh huh,” she says. “How many times have you died?”

He stares at the floor. “...Four.”

”Right.” She purses her lips. “You’re benched until further notice.”

He glances up at her as if to protest—but her ring cuts him off.

[Warning. Will detec—Love dete— **Will** **detected**.]

She turns to the window just in time to see a young woman in green plow headfirst into the tarmac at 180 miles per hour.


	2. Cruz

Hal, like an idiot, doesn't even bother to grab his ring before sprinting out into the airfield.

"God  _damn_ it, Hal!" Carol yells. She grabs his ring with her mind and flings it at him—it shoots toward him in a streak of pink before she slams it onto his finger, and in a second she's running after him.

[That's my student] _,_ Hal’s voice says in her mind, projecting through her ring. His tone is less calming than he thinks. [I’ve got this handled.]

”The hell you do,” she grumbles, launching a superluminal filament to just in front of him and yanking herself along in, folding through space and popping back into existence right in his path. She flares her environmental shield, anchoring herself in place, and the unprepared Hal smacks into her like a brick wall. She doesn’t even flinch.

He tumbles to the ground, though he halts in a seated position about an inch above the asphalt as his body shimmers green. “What was _that_ for?” he yelps, rubbing his head.

Carol clenches her hand, commanding the ring to wipe what just happened from the camera footage and replace it with a “convenient glitch.” “Your student,” she growls, trying not to grit her teeth, “just plowed into my tarmac with enough force to _melt it into slag._ ” She thrusts her finger toward the impact crater, which is bubbling with molten tar. “For the love of _Ion_ , Hal, _scan first_.”

”You _know_ we don’t worship the fish,” Hal grumbles, but his eyes flash willpower-green as he rises to his feet, and by the way his neck cranes forwards, she can tell he’s listened—that’s his attention-face. He’s scanning.

Carol turns toward the crater and activates her own scan. Her vision goes pink-violet and instantly she knows the exact temperature and composition of the solidifying tarmac, the location and direction of all the nearest cameras—she discreetly shoves them slightly off-center, forcing a blind spot around the three Lanterns—and she can see the smaller girl huddled in a fetal position embedded about a foot into the runway, shivering. Her back-traced trajectory burns bright pink against Carol’s retina.

[No nearby hostile forces detected,] her ring says.

 _What about mental influence?_ she shoots back.

[Subject’s willpower irregular,] the ring responds. [Brain scan indicates no outside interference.]

After her time beyond the Source Wall, she knows that “not detected” doesn’t mean “nonexistent.” The ring has trouble with magic, and divinity, and there’s still a chance that a Kardashev II civilization like the Controllers is playing merry havoc with her brain in ways she can’t see. She doesn’t drop her guard.

Hal doesn’t share her concerns. His environmental shield pulses the second she finishes her scan, and he’s leaping forward, giant green forceps manifesting in the air in front of him and stabbing into the ground around the girl. “Cruz!” he yells, as the forceps close around her arm and yank her free of the ground with a peculiar sucking noise.

”He’s gone,” the girl gasps, folding herself against Hal’s side. “He’s missing he’s gone ”

”I gotcha,” Hal says, pressing her to his chest, looking down at her with naked fondness.

Carol feels a flare of jealousy and immediately forces it down. Going Zamaron Queen in front of two Lanterns is a _bad idea_.

 _Ring_ , she thinks, _be prepared to shield him the second something goes wrong._

[Confirmed.]

She takes another moment to look at the girl. She’s still shaking; her environmental shield is pulsating like a lava lamp, and it is downright unsettling to watch.

[Breathe, Jess,] the girl’s ring says, and Carol blinks at the colloquial tone. Can a ring even _do_ that? [Focus on your breathing. In for four, hold for two—]

”Focus on the Emerald Sun,” Hal murmurs. “Just beyond the clouds. Reach for it, you can make it.”

The girl—Jess—whimpers.

[You got this,] the ring says.

Understanding clicks in Carol’s mind. “A Green Lantern,” she says, “with anxiety.”

Hal’s eyes flash up to her, flinty. “She beat Volthoom three times,” he says. “By herself.”

Carol’s mouth snaps shut as she remembers the sensation of having her timeline ripped apart, the utter powerlessness she felt at the hands of the First Lantern. “Holy shit,” she breathes. No _wonder_ she’s a Lantern.

”Jess,” Hal says, placing her feet on the ground and gripping her shoulders. “Talk to me.”

Jess opens her eyes, closes them again. Breathes in.

[Warning!] Carol’s ring cries into her mind. [Great love detected!]

”Simon Baz is missing.”


End file.
